Page 69 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 62
Canopy

gai

According to old and fragmentary traditions, the Chinese imagined the cosmos as an
imperial chariot: and they compared the world to a carriage with a cover or canopy over
it. This canopy is round in shape and symbolises the heavens. The driver sits well
forward, under the rim of the canopy. ‘The name of this place (xian) corresponds to that
point in the reception hall at which the lord must place himself when he is holding court.
To say “The earth bears and the heaven covers” (Li-ji, Chap. Zhong-yong) refers as much
to the house as to the carriage’ (Marcel Granet).
Reliefs dating from as far back as the Han period (206 BC–AD 220) show canopies
carried by servants to protect someone of noble family from the sun. Pictures of Xi-
wang-mu often show a canopy or umbrella held over her by a maidservant.
The umbrella also goes back to the time of Confucius: and like modern umbrellas
it could even be folded when not in use. The canopy tended to become more and more a
purely Buddhist symbol. It is one of the eight Buddhist symbols, and represents the
lung of the deity.

Cao Guo-jiu

One of the eight Immortals. He is always shown in court dress, and often he is holding
an official sceptre or castanets. The guo-jiu part of the name indicates that he was

‘maternal uncle of the Emperor’. The legend tells us: ‘From early childhood onwards, he
loved the secret way of things (dao). To him, riches and honours were as dust’
(tr. Richard Wilhelm).
Cao Guo-jiu is the patron saint of actors and actresses.